AN INCURABLE, potentially deadly virus which is spread by mosquitos and can cause infected mothers to give birth to babies with tiny heads could spread to the US within months, and potentially reach Europe, scientists have warned.

The Zika virus has spread at an alarming rate in South American in the past year and experts fear the US southern states could be the next places to experience outbreaks.

It is unknown why cases of the virus, which has been linked to a number of deaths and has no vaccine, has suddenly exploded in the past few years.

This week it made its way to Puerto Rico, which was the gateway to the US for other mosquito-borne diseases.

It has already spread across Mexico.

Scott Weaver, the director of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said: "I think the Zika virus is going to be knocking on the doorstep in places like Florida and Texas probably in the spring or summer. It is spreading really fast."

Alarmingly, it is thought to be transmitted by mosquitos, including Aedes albopictus, which is found as far north as the south of France in Europe.

Related articles

The flu-like symptoms usually clear within a week, but Brazilian health officials have linked it to seven cases of people who died from Guillain-Barré syndrome - a rare brain condition that attacks muscles and can paralysie sufferers.

They now fear in extreme cases Zika could cause Guilliain Barré syndrome in some people.

Officials fear Zika could spread into the US in the same way dengue fever did after first hitting Puerto Rico.

Global warming has been raised as a possible reason for the spread.

Heidi Brown, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Arizona, said: "The survival of the mosquito is driven a lot by temperature."

"Mosquitoes thrive in warm and moist environments. So people go to the idea of global warming — that climate change and changes in precipitation patterns and temperature are helping mosquitoes survive in different areas."